Looking thin and gaunt, but wearing a strong and determined expression, Kim Young-hwan, a leading South Korean advocate of North Korean human rights, told foreign reporters Monday that he was severely tortured by Chinese authorities while being detained for over 100 days in China for trying to help North Korean refugees there.

Despite my repeated requests for an interview, Kim, who was just released last month after being tortured and detained in China for months, had been refusing to talk to me about his ordeal. But today, for the first time, he broke his silence, answering foreign journalists’ questions for